A former Kano State governor and the current presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Rabiu Kwankwaso, has described southeastern Nigerians as good businesspeople but poor in politics.
The former Kano governor also said the people of the South-East are well talented but need to learn politics, adding that “in politics, they are at the bottom line”.
Kwankwaso stated this in Gombe State during a visit to Gombe State to inaugurate the state office of NNPP and meet with elected members of the party on Saturday.
There has been pressure on the NNPP and the Labour Party to work together to produce a presidential candidate between them for the 2023 presidential election. Kwankwaso and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party have admitted that the parties have held talks, but the bone of contention is that the two candidates want to be the presidential candidate in the arrangement.
On the choice of his running mate, Kwankwaso said “we have options in the NNPP in the South to pick a good vice president and one of them is the Labour Party man you are talking about.”
He noted that his party had been in talks with the Labour Party for a possible merger but that the decision on who would emerge as the presidential candidate between him and Obi had hindered the progress of the talks.
“From the discussion with Labour Party, the main issue was who becomes the President, if the parties merge.
“At the end of the day, some of our representatives thought that there should be criteria in terms of age, qualification, offices held, performance and so on.
“Of course, the other side wouldn’t want that. Most of the people from there believe that presidency has to go there (South-East).